Join Bilal Badat, master calligrapher and scholar, for a conversation about the meaning of Islamic calligraphy. Badat explains calligraphy not just as a craft but as a means of transmitting and glorifying sacred knowledge. He shares fascinating insights on the making of calligraphers – the way in which the long training process is as much about spiritual and character development as it is about the production of great art.
Bilal Badat is an archaeologist and art-historian specialising in the history of Islamic calligraphy in the Persianate world. Bilal completed his masters in Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and wrote his doctorate on the concept of pedagogy and style in Islamic calligraphy at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. Currently, Bilal teaches Early and Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture, Art and Architecture of the Ottoman and Persianate world, Islamic Aesthetics, and Persianate Manuscript Culture at the University of Tubingen, Germany.
This podcast is part of Converging Paths, an initiative organised by The Barakat Trust in partnership with the Asia House exploring the arts and cultures of the Islamic World. Converging Paths is generously supported by the Altajir Trust and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s Education Programme.
